The ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION 

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II. WANTED-A REDISTRIBUTION BILL . . By F. St- John Morrow 

llll A NEW CAROLINE COMMONPLACE BOOK . .By Alice Law 

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VI. THE YANGTZE REGION . . . . . . . By R. C Gundry 

riL KING ALFRED'S COUNTRY By Rev. W. Greswell 

pi. LITERARY COURTSHIPS By Mrs- Charles Towle 

IX- THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION . By Horace Townsend 

X. M. BRUNETIERE .... ; ... By Charles Bastide 

XI. CRIMINAL APPEAL AND THE PREROGATIVE OF MERCY By X. Y. Z. 

Ul. THE ARREST OF THOMAS KYD . . - , By Frederick S- Boas 

III. THE GOVERNMENT AND LONDON ARCHITECTURE 

By Charles G- Harper 

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!he Philosophy of the Dreyfus Case 

IN THIS NUMBER, 



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Wi%t IN THE 

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TO 

THE 



ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION 



BY 



HORACE TOWNSEND 
n 



PROM 
THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 
SEPTEMBER 1809 






n* 

^ 



S3- 



LITEEAEY COURTSHIPS. 489 

upon the highest, if not the soundest, principles. It is a startling, 
"bewildering picture of gentleness and determination, of thoughtful- 
ness and passion, of tremendous risks voluntarily and gladly incurred, 
of the dual acceptance of a future freighted with joy, but overladen 
with anxiety. 

It was no wonder that friends and relations deplored their marriage. 
" I have no objection to the young man," was Mr. Barrett's comment, 
"but my daughter should have been thinking of another world." 
Even to themselves it was a surprise that health should for a time 
revive in such measure ; but alike in sickness and in health, like rays 
of imprisoned sunshine, the guarded happiness of their home lights 
up, even for the casual stranger, the record of their lives, until, after 
fifteen years, he could write of her last moments : " Always smilingly, 
happily . . . after the most perfect expression of her love to me . . . 
she died in my arms." 

But into the precincts of married life it is not our purpose to enter. 
The true love story we have been assured begins at the altar, but it 
is a love story which we are not often permitted to read. It is 
frequently written in a cypher, of which we do not hold the key, or 
too late inscribed only as an epitaph upon a tomb. In courtship there 
are dramatic incidents, and strange new revelations which surprise us 
into confidences and indiscretions ; but in marriage the " intertangled 
roots of love " lie below ground, and happy married people' are for 
the most part ready to breathe the spirit of Donne's well-known 
lines : — 

" So let us melt and make no noise, 

No tear floods, nor sigh, tempests move ; 
'T were profanation of our joys, 
To tell the laity our love." 

Eleanor A. Towle. 



THE ALASKAN BOUND AEY QUESTION. 

Somewhat ironically significant is it that contemporaneously with 
the coming into existence of that well-defined wave of friendly sym- 
pathy and sentimental fraternity between this country and the United 
States of America, which was not the least important outcome of the 
Spanish American war, one of the most serious disputes between the 
two countries, that, namely, which concerns the definition of the 
Alaskan Boundary, should have reached its acute stage. It is true 
that for many years past this has been viewed by clear-sighted 
politicians as a potential cause for a disagreement of a tripartite 
character, seeing that the Dominion of Canada is even more deeply 
interested therein than the mother country. Yet only within the 
last two or three years have the peoples, as distinct from their 
diplomatists, at all concerned themselves with the matters in dis- 
pute. Nor even now is much knowledge shown by press or public 
on this side of the Atlantic. As an Englishman who has lived for 
many years in the States, and for no short time in Canada, and who 
has had exceptional opportunities of acquainting himself with the 
general views of both communities, I feel I am not arrogating too 
much to myself in setting forth a brief consideration of the practical 
aspect of the subject. 

I have referred to the general ignorance as to the matter in dis- 
pute. I have seen it stated in the public prints here, at one time, 
that it concerned the acquisition by England of a vast gold-bearing 
territory ; and at another, that it affected the possession of that archi- 
pelago which borders the western coast of British Columbia. As a 
matter of fact, so far as I am aware, no gold or other mineral 
deposits of any special value have so far been discovered within the 
disputed territory, which is merely a narrow strip bordering the 
coast line. It is in Alaska proper and the great Yukon district and 
North-West Territory, which two latter indisputably belong to 
Canada, that the important gold-fields lie. "While as to the archi- 
pelago, though at one time Canada, I find, did put forward a claim 
that the coast line should be taken to the outer rim of these islands, 
according to the Colonial Office here that claim has been definitely 
abandoned, and no question remains but that the islands are all in 
United States territory. 

It was in March, 1867, that the United States acquired, by pur- 
chase from Russia, the territory of Alaska, which, up to that time, 
had been of value only as a fur-producing country. There is, it is 
true, a story that very early in the century gold was discovered in 



THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 491 

the Russian possessions, but that for some reason or another it was 
against Russia's policy to allow the exploitation of minerals in 
this region. The story goes that Alexander Baranof, at that 
time Governor of Alaska and agent of the Russian Fur Company, 
and one of the most striking figures in the history of the north- 
western coast, summoned the discoverer before him, and threatened 
him with death if he allowed his secret to leak out, or tried to make 
any use of it. This, however, is a mere legend, though in view of 
after events it possesses some interest. 

In the beginning of the present century the conflicting interests of 
Great Britain, the United States, and Russia in regard to their 
territorial rights in the north-west portion of the North American 
continent had been a subject of diplomatic negotiations. So far 
as Russia and Great Britain were concerned these interests were 
defined as nearly as might be by a treaty which was made in 
1825. At the time when this treaty was drawn up there was 
little definite knowledge concerning the territory which it affected. 
Peopled with scattered tribes of Indians, with here and there a 
Russian trading post, it might have been practically included among 
the terra incognita of the globe. No proper surveys had ever been 
made, and the probabilities are that the treaty was based upon maps 
drawn by Vancouver about the middle of the eighteenth century. 
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that, owing to the lax 
use of geographical expressions, this treaty, when it came to be closely 
examined a generation or more later, was found to bristle with 
ambiguities. References were made to channels, the names of which 
have since been altered, and mountain ranges were mentioned as 
occupying positions where no mountain ranges exist. Only two 
points were positively certain, namely, that the eastern boundary 
of Alaska should follow the 141st degree of west longitude, and 
that Russian possessions should extend as far south as the southern- 
most point of Prince of Wales Island, or "Wales Island, as it should 
be more correctly termed. After the Crimean War, by a treaty 
of commerce and navigation between the two nations, the treaty of 
1825 was confirmed and declared to be in force, so that when in 1867 
the United States purchased Alaska it stepped into Russia's shoes, 
and succeeded to all the rights and privileges defined by this treaty. 
The provisions of this treaty of 1825, out of which the trouble has 
grown, are contained in Articles III. and IV., which may well be 
quoted in full. 

" Article III. — The line of demarcation between the Possessions of the High 
Contracting Parties, upon the Coast of the Continent and the Islands of America 
to the north-west, shall be drawn in the manner following : — Commencing from 
the southernmost Point of the Island called the Prince of "Wales Island, which 
point lies in the parallel of 54 deg. 40 min., north latitude, and between th 



492 THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 

131st and 133rd deg. of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line 
shall ascend to the north, along the channel called the Portland Channel, as far 
as the point of the Continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude ; 
from this last mentioned point the line of demarcation shall follow the summit of 
the mountains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of 
the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian), and finally from the 
said point of intersection, the said meridian lines of the 141st degree, in its pro- 
longation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit between the Eussian 
and British possessions of the Continent of America to the north west. 

" Article IV. — With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the 
preceding article, it is understood — First : That the Island called the Prince of 
"Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia. Second : That wherever the summit 
of the mountains, which extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 56th 
degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree, shall 
prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the 
limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to 
Bussia as above mentioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of 
the coast, which shall never exceed the difference of ten marine leagues there- 
from." 

It is the last sentence which I have just quoted which is of special 
interest just now, for it may be said that the dispute mainly resolves 
itself into a distinction of the words " a line parallel to the windings 
of the coast." Eu gland and Canada claim that the numerous bays 
and inlets which run inland shall not be considered as ocean waters, 
but as territorial waters, and that the coast-line therefore shall be 
an imaginary line drawn across the mouths of these ; while the United 
States claim that the coast-line follows literally the windings of the 
coast, reaching to the head- waters even of the longest and narrowest 
inlet. Taking the Lynn Canal as the most important example, 
forming as it does the gateway to the gold-bearing Yukon district, 
including the Klondyke, the boundary-line, according to the United 
States contention, continues to the summit of the mountain range 
nearest the head of the canal where are situated Dyea and Skagway, 
a distance of about eighteen to twenty miles inland; according 
to the British claim it would be but thirty miles from the mouth 
of the canal, thus leaving these two important settlements within 
Canadian territory. There are other disputed readings of th^. terms 
of the 1825 treaty ; for instance, as to whether the Portland Channel, 
referred to in Article III., is what is known now as the Portland 
Canal, or some other arm of the sea. But to thoroughly enter into 
these disputed points, and to discuss each separate provision of the 
treaty, would occupy many pages, and would probably at the end 
leave the reader in a somewhat foggy and bemused state of mind. 
It is common pleasantry among those whose official duty has led 
them to study the subject in all its bearings, that only two men ever 
understood the treaty of 1825, and that one of these is dead and 
that the other has forgotten what he once knew about it. For 



THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 493 

the purposes of this article, therefore, I shall assume that were 
the matter to be referred to arbitration the chances of success would 
be about equally balanced between the two opposing parties. I 
find it impossible to determine exactly when the rights of the 
United States to the boundary-line they assumed on taking over the 
country from Eussia, first began to be questioned. Until the early 
seventies, it would appear, they looked upon the territory in dispute 
as their own, and that there was no one to say them nay — at all 
events, in no formal, serious fashion. Early in the seventies, how- 
ever, gold was found in the Cassiar district, which lies in the 
southern part of British Columbia. There was an instant rush 
to these new goldfields, and considerable trade followed in its wake. 
The only route into the Cassiar district was by way of the Stikine 
Eiver, the outlet of which clearly fell within the undisputed line 
of American territory, and the importance of having a recognised 
and certain delimitation between Alaska and British Columbia be- 
came evident. 

It was in 1872 that the legislative assembly of British Columbia 
passed a resolution praying the Lieutenant Governor to call the 
attention of the Dominion Government to the necessity, in the 
interests of " peace, order, and good government," of taking steps 
to have the boundary line properly defined. Numerous requests in 
this direction were made to the United States through Great Britain, 
but though a bill was introduced in Congress to give effect to a 
Commission of Enquiry, nothing was done, on the ground that a more 
important resolution required attention, and that Congress would not 
vote so large a sum as was required. A suggestion was made by the 
American Government that for the time being it would be " quite 
sufficient to decide upon some particular points, and the principal of 
these they suggested should be the Portland Canal, the points where 
the boundary line crosses the rivers Skoot, Stikine, Taku Inlet and 
Cheelcat, Mt. St. Elias, and the points where the 141st degree of 
west longitude crosses the rivers Yukon and Porcupine." Nothing, 
however, seems to have been done in respect of this proposition, and 
for many years the question rested there. Meanwhile, however, the 
region under dispute was, so far as it was administered at all, 
administered by the United States Government. The few scattered 
settlements which sprung up were settled by Americans, and it was 
by Americans that mines were exploited and steamship lines of com- 
munication between the Pacific coast cities and this region 
established. Nor can I discover that any protests were made to 
Washington either by the Dominion or the Home Governments. It 
must be pointed out, however, that the Dominion Government did 
not altogether neglect this question, and annual survey parties were 
sent out and some negotiations entered into with the Government at 



494 THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 

Washington, one result of this being that the 141st parallel, which, 
as I have explained, settled the easternmost delimitation of Alaska 
and the westernmost of British Columbia, was definitely laid down 
and settled. It is, indeed, owing to this having been done that there 
has never been any real dispute regarding the possession of the 
Yukon gold district, including the Klondyke. But the Americans 
were still allowed to administer the coast district in accordance with 
their own views. As to the inland boundary, indeed, the history of 
Skagway itself offers some striking evidence in this direction. 
Skagway, as is generally known, is situated at the head of the Lynn 
Canal, not many miles from Dyea. There are at present practically 
only two roads into the Klondyke, one by way of the Chilcoot Pass, 
the other by way of the White Pass. It is, indeed, the possession of 
these two towns that forms the chief feature of the present contest 
between America and Canada. Now Captain Moore, who, under 
Mr. William Ogilvie, discovered the White Pass, undoubtedly the 
better of the two routes into the Yukon, was a British subject, and 
as far back as 1888 he desired to pre-empt 160 acres of the land 
whereon the town of Skagway now stands. He applied to the 
Government Land Office in Victoria with this purpose in view, but 
was informed that the district in question was not subject to the 
Dominion land laws, and that application must be made to 
Washington. As he was a British subject this was impossible for 
him to do, and accordingly a pre-emption claim was put forward by 
an American subject, the land was taken up and occupied by the 
pre-emptor for several years until he was forcibly dispossessed of it 
by those concerned in the first rush to Klondyke in 1896, and the 
question as to the rightful ownership is at present, I believe, 
awaiting adjudication at Washington. It may, of course, be urged 
that the United States have merely assumed possession of this 
territory with the definite purpose of relying upon that possession as 
" nine points of the law." Still the foregoing facts seem to tend to 
the conclusion that not only was no strenuous protest made, but that 
the Government of British Columbia to a certain extent admitted the 
fact of an effectual American possession, although a disputed one. 
The Americans have naturally, under these circumstances, persistently 
played for delay and the continuation of the status quo. Practically 
they say to us, "Although you have from time to time put forth half- 
hearted protests and objections, still the fact remains that you have 
allowed us to administer this disputed territory as though it were our 
own. Our people have settled there, and it is to us that these settlers 
apply for the right of pre-empting land. For some twenty-five years 
out of the thirty which have elapsed since our purchase of Alaska, it 
was not worth your while to make any serious efforts towards a 
permanent boundary settlement. When, however, the Hinterland 



THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 495 

began to be of value for its gold and other minerals, you began to 
push your claims. The question developed into one of active and 
practical politics, but you must remember that the situation to be 
dealt with is that of to-day, not that of thirty years ago." 

The Canadians reply to this seems to be, and so far as I can 
gather, the Colonial Office at home takes up its stand on the same 
argument, " If you have stolen something which belongs to us, it is 
no excuse to say that we have left you for any number of years in 
unfair possession thereof. We rely upon the Treaty of 1825, 
which, according to our interpretation, would put us in possession of 
the head waters of the Lynn Canal, and thereby afford us access by 
sea to those valuable districts which undoubtedly belong to us. "We 
will, therefore, hear of no compromise in the matter, but must insist 
upon the whole question being submitted to fair arbitration." Now 
on the principle oifiat justitia ruat coelum there is much to be said 
for this view of the matter. But it seems to me, as I have said, that 
the matter is one of practical politics, and these are sometimes incom- 
patible with theoretical justice. In asking America to submit the 
whole question to arbitration, with evenly balanced chances of success 
or failure, we are asking her to take chances which no democratic 
government could afford to take ; we are asking her to run the risk 
of having taken from her territory which, in the opinion of her 
seventy millions of people, has for well nigh a generation been an 
integral part of the United States. Into the legal intricacies of the 
Boundary Question but a small minority of these can be expected to 
enter ; but south, east, and west would join together as one man to 
overwhelm any Government which would dare even to expose them- 
selves to the risk of having to part with a portion, however small, 
of United States territory. Nor do the inhabitants of the towns 
which would be affected by such action speak with any uncertain 
voice. Those who were in Skagway a year ago will bear me out as 
to the contemptuous fury with which its inhabitants received the bare 
suggestion that their transfer to Canada was within the region of 
probability. They refused even to discuss it as a possible eventuality. 
Nor is this attitude of the United States any new thing in interna- 
tional discussion. The recently published proposition put forward as 
a basis of arbitration by the British Commissioners is admittedly based 
upon the rules of the Venezuelan Arbitration, and the first rule pro- 
vides that adverse holding or prescription during a period of fifty 
years shall make good a title, and that the arbitrators may deem 
exclusive political administration of a district, as well as actual settle- 
ment thereof, sufficient to constitute adverse holding or to make title 
by prescription. Here, at all events, the principle of the rights 
of prior oocupation is admitted, though whether the time should be 



496 THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 

fifty or thirty years may not unconceivably be held to depend on 
circumstances. 

It is only quite recently that all this desultory negotiation has been 
forced to a head by the discovery on Canadian territory of the valu- 
able gold fields of the Yukon, and it was hoped the appointing of the 
Joint High Commission would bring about, if not a definite settle- 
ment of the whole matter, at all events a modus vivendi which would 
be satisfactory to both sides. Unfortunately, these hopes were 
doomed to be disappointed, and the adjournment of the Commission 
with nothing accomplished is fresh in all our memories. Nor is it 
easy to determine on whose shoulders lies the blame of this unfor- 
tunate break down. America has been blamed for her stubbornness 
in refusing to submit to an arbitration which should take into 
consideration the possession of the towns and settlements under the 
authority of the United States and at present under their jurisdiction ; 
while they have also been charged with having made no concessions 
at all to Canada in the direction of allowing her free access to her 
Yukon possessions. I am enabled to say, however, in this latter 
respect the Americans have not been so stiff-necked as has been made to 
appear. Although it was not placed formally before the Commission, 
it was allowed clearly to be understood by the other side, that in 
regard to Skagway, America was prepared to make a very liberal 
concession. They were ready, that is, to allow of the joint adminis- 
tration of Skagway, the two flags flying side by side, and to allow of 
the denationalisation, or internationalisation as it might otherwise be 
termed, of the White Pass and the Yukon Eailroad, now completed 
to Lake Bennett, and the only railroad which gives access to 
the Yukon. They were even prepared to admit of the passage of 
troops and munitions of war over this road, thus doing away with 
the Canadian contention that, should a disturbance occur in the 
Yukon, they are at present debarred from taking efficient measures to 
quell it. This proposition, however, does not commend itself to the 
Canadians, whose main object, I think I am justified in saying, is to 
have a railroad route of their own from beginning to end, in their 
own territory, as far north as Dawson City. At one time, owing to 
insufficient information and ignorance of the natural obstacles in the 
way, they thought they could accomplish this by what was known as 
the Stikine route. They even went so far as to make a contract with 
Messrs. McKenzie and Mann to construct this road, the contractors 
receiving, as part of their payment, concessions and grants of territory 
in the Yukon, which would practically have given them the absolute 
and sole control of that district. The value of this to the contractors 
can hardly be over estimated. However, not only did the natural 
obstacles I have referred to lead to the abandonment of the scheme, 
but the Senate at Ottawa threw out the Bill which had passed 



THE ALASKAN BOUNDAKY QUESTION. 497 

through the Lower House, affording a striking proof that there are 
times when an Upper House has its distinct value in legislation. It 
has been suggested (though I am the last to confirm it) that it was 
the influence of the firm of railroad contractors, to whose lot it would 
probably fall to construct any new line of subsidised railway, which 
caused the Canadian Commission to reject the tentative American 
proposal regarding Skagway, and to put forward the counter claim 
to the possession of Pyramid Harbour (which lies lower down upon 
the west coast of the Lynn Canal), together with a two mile wide strip 
of territory reaching inland, containing the Chileat Pass, and 
through it easy passage through the coast ranges, and so by a long 
line of railroad to Fort Selkirk, which lies on the Yukon River, to the 
south and east of Dawson City. It is said also, though of this I 
have no direct evidence, that the Canadians included the right to 
fortify Pyramid Harbour. It is not surprising that the Americans 
rejected this proposal, for they entered into the discussion convinced 
of the impossibility of accepting any arrangement which would 
involve the surrender of American settlements, and though it is not 
so large or important as Skagway or Dyea, Pyramid Harbour is 
nevertheless as much an American settlement as the two latter. I 
am bound to point out that just as the Dominion of Canada, as a 
whole, has a keener interest in this dispute than has the Home 
Government, so the Government of British Columbia is more closely 
affected by any possible settlement than is the rest of the Dominion. 
And British Columbia is as adverse to the Pyramid Harbour scheme 
as the United States themselves. This is due to the fact that when 
finished the Pyramid Harbour and Fort Selkirk railroad would afford 
no access to the British Columbia gold fields on Atlin Lake, which 
would still be reached only by way of Skagway and the White Pass, 
or by Dyea and the Chileat Pass. 

But quite apart from this view of the matter, we may take it for 
granted that the United States will never voluntarily surrender any 
of their tide- water settlements, while the Canadian Grovernment, on 
the other hand, are no more disposed to accept any settlement based 
on the internationalisation of Skagway, their argument probably being 
that, save as a temporary modus vivendi, this would be giving away 
their whole case to their opponents. An important factor in this 
whole matter is, of course, the public opinion of Canada itself, and 
Canadians view with quite different eyes to their English cousins their 
relations with the United States. They are in no hurry to concede 
the smallest jot or tittle of what they conceive to be their just rights 
for the sake of any sentimental feeling of fraternity or international 
friendliness. One has only to pick up at random a Canadian news- 
paper to see that the wave of good feeling which has affected us here 
and the inhabitants of the United States themselves with equal force, 



498 THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 

has left Canadians absolutely cold. They consider, and perhaps with 
reason, that for many years past they have had just cause for irritation 
against the United States. The latter, by a policy of pin pricks, have 
for a generation past endeavoured to force their near neighbour into 
applying for annexation. There are many sore spots on Canadian 
memories. There are those still living who have not yet ceased to mourn 
the loss of their sons at the time of the Fenian Eaids, when the United 
States allowed an armed force to cross the border, with the result that 
Canadian lives were lost and Canadian property to the amount of 
hundreds of thousands of dollars destroyed, while no compensation 
was subsequently given or redress made. It is not to be wondered at, 
then, that an extreme view of the present case is taken by Canadians 
in general, and through them by their diplomatic representatives. On 
the other hand, there is the feeling of the United States to be 
considered. This is of a different character. There exists in the 
States, save, perhaps, in some few districts bordering on the provinces 
of lower Canada, into which French Canadians find their way, no 
racial antipathy towards the inhabitants of the dominion, but there is 
a sentiment well nigh as strong, which those in power recognise, and 
one which no government dare outrage. They know that were they 
to propose a scheme which would be looked upon as the abandonment 
of American territory, they would, as Mr. Gr. W. Smalley so well 
pointed out, be accused, both by the Senate and the Press, of having 
betrayed American interests. It may be urged, and indeed has 
been, that a government which is guided by such a consideration 
has confessed itself unable to govern. But this seems to me a 
very academic view of the case to take. One can conceive instances 
in which even an English Government, however powerful, would 
refrain from taking certain action, however rightful it might seem, if 
it were conscious of the fact that the entire people, with no uncertain 
voice, would rise up in protest against it. Let us for one moment 
consider what would be the result if an arbitration court decided 
adversely to the United States on all points. It is absolutely certain 
that the Senate would refuse to ratify the award of the arbitrators. 
England would then find herself face to face with the situation that 
she would either have to relinquish the territory granted to her by the 
arbitrators, or to enforce her right by war. In must be borne in mind 
that to the average American the feeling regarding the retention of 
territory, over which the Stars and Stripes have once flown, amounts 
to a religion. The land under discussion, too, is contiguous to the 
United States, forming practically a portion thereof, and so can in no 
way be compared to that portion of the Venezuelan territory which 
we have wisely agreed to submit to arbitration. The average 
Englishman cares not one whit which way the Venezuelan arbitration 
may fall out. Each individual American would feel that the 



THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY QUESTION. 499 

relinquishment of Skagway or Dyea would mean a stain on the 
national honour and an abandonment of their fellow citizens who 
have settled there. This may he illogical, but nations are often 
illogical. Therefore, the unconditional arbitration demanded by 
Canada would, in my opinion, benefit neither party. The present 
deadlock can only be removed by a compromise involving material 
concessions on both sides. What, then, shall those concessions be ? 
If the question merely affected England and the United States, it 
might easily be settled by concessions made in some other quarter of 
the globe. But, however useful these might be to the Empire as a 
whole, they would not be of any tangible benefit to Canada as 
a colony. The idea of a settlement in this manner, therefore, must 
be definitely abandoned. It is rather on the lines informally suggested 
by the United States regarding Skagway and the internationalization 
of the White Pass and Yukon Railway, perhaps accompanied by a 
substantial pecuniary compensation to Canada, that we have to look 
for a solution, of the difficulty. Thus, the United States would not be 
called on to relinquish any of her settled territory, and Canada would 
gain what she chiefly looks for, namely, free access to her Yukon 
district. 

Horace Townsend. 



VOL. LXVI. N.S. L T, 



M. BRUNETIERE. 

In the present unsettled, a foreigner would say chaotic, state of France, 
on the brink of a change which no one dares to predict, it is only- 
natural to meet with many psychological problems. M. Brunetiere 
is one of the most disconcerting. That he is a political as well as 
literary power no one denies, but few try to explain ; his case is 
generally dismissed with the word reactionary, which explains little. 

Yet how strange for a French critic not to be wholly confined to 
the solving of curious literary questions, such as the philosophy of 
Moliere or the influence of Descartes on the eighteenth century. 
Sainte-Beuve's political ambition did not go beyond a seat in Napoleon's 
rather promiscuously-recruited Senate. M. Taine, M. Renan, were 
content to give their fellow-countrymen some advice in the time of 
need. Even to-day, when academicians are so eager to preside over 
leagues and to win in the law courts an easy crown of martyrdom, 
none of them exercises M. Brunetiere's influence. That M. Anatole 
France should defend the Eights of Man on the same platform as 
Sebastien Faure, the anarchist, is only a freak of the whimsical Puck 
that has been perverting Frenchmen for over a year. That M. 
Lemaitre should practise impressionism on a higher plane by protesting 
against the election of a President, or M. Coppee embrace with abun- 
dance of tears Deputy Deroulede are at most bits of amusing bye-play 
in the great mysterious drama. Alone M. Brunetiere is at once a 
prince of critics and a leader of men. 

An indefatigable agitator, he writes widely circulated tracts, he 
lectures in the Provinces, and the measures taken on those occasions 
by the local police show the bitter opposition with which he meets 
and the extent to which his opponents fear him. A few months ago, 
his was the task of managing a League, which secretly aimed at no 
less than the overthrow of the Government instituted by Gambetta 
and Ferry, and the advent to power of a Conservative party sup- 
ported by the Army and the Roman Church. 

No wonder that such a man has as many distinguished enemies as 
staunch admirers. It is not our intention to pronounce on his merits 
or demerits, much less to trace, like most of his critics, the motives — 
ambitious, interested or otherwise — that are supposed to have actuated 
him. We shall simply gather from the mass of his works his leading 
ideas and suggest an explanation of his success. 

Let us first' briefly recall his career. Born in the South of France, 
he came like many other young Frenchmen, when a mere boy, to the 
wonderful capital that at one stroke of a magic wand makes a man 



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